Embers of Embers

Chapter 289 The Past
After a few days of pouring, the heavy rain has become much lighter, like a hazy veil, the slender rain strands tap the ground, creating ripples in the stagnant water.
At night, Jiudunling in the rainy season is like a psychedelic underwater world. The steam escaping from the underground is shattered by raindrops before it rises. The biting chill accompanies every traveler, like a ghost that cannot be dispelled. .
There was no one on the streets. No one would like to travel in this weather. It was extremely quiet at night. Only the faint sound of horse hooves sounded in the darkness, announcing that the mounted police were still patrolling.
Little bits of light rose from the darkness, and then the kestrel walked out of the darkness and threw the still burning cigarette into the water at his feet.
He doesn't smoke much, but in this damn weather, this thing seems to be the only thing that can keep him warm, although it is mostly just psychological comfort.
Colleagues say that Kestrel is a guy with a great attitude. No matter how bad the environment is, he doesn't seem to be afraid. Sometimes he even tells jokes to everyone in front of the rotten meat and internal organs. In fact, Kestrel is not. So brave, he is just an ordinary person, telling jokes is because he is almost scared to death, and can only talk about other things to divert his attention.
Looking at the world shrouded in rain all around, the whole city was silent as if only I was left... This environment is really suitable for some hellish murders. If possible, I really don't want to go out to work in the middle of the night.
The kestrel sighed helplessly, and the hot breath quickly disappeared in the evening wind, as if it was killed by an unknown thing.
He was holding a black umbrella, and his clothes were all black. He had a pistol under his clothes and a folding knife on his waist. He was fully armed.
The kestrel was like a grim reaper getting ready to start work at night. As he stepped through the stagnant water, more grim reapers walked out of the darkness with him.
The carriage stopped not far away, and the members who arrived in advance had already taken control of the building. They carried forged police certificates and told other residents who were awakened that they were just maintaining a small amount of security.
But this is not a small maintenance of security. Those people are hiding in the shadows where no one can see. Thermite rifles have been fired. With the blazing temperature, the humid environment will not have much impact on them.
"I always have a delusion sometimes."
Another voice sounded, and the robin walked out from the side. He was a devout believer, with a silver cross hanging in front of his black clothes.
Although he believes in the nihilistic God of the Evangelical Church, this belief has long been completely changed in the process of Inverg's localization, and Robin is very clear about his position.
Faith is faith, work is work.
"What illusion?"
Kestrel continued, in this damn environment, he really wished someone could talk to him more, so as not to let the heavy rain separate him from the world, so as not to appear so lonely.
"Old Dunling, this city is a vibrant and progressive city during the day. The gears are roaring and turning to create wealth and miracles. It leads the development of the world. People work hard here and consume everything in their lives. But at night, it completely turns into a Another world.”
said the robin.
"A world that does not belong to mortals. There are all kinds of strange and disgusting monsters hidden in the dark corners. They are trying to bring humans back to the dark age, and we are the fire-wielding heroes, fighting and fighting with them."
"Hmm... this reminds me of those novels." Kestrel said.
"novel?"
Robin glanced sideways at Kestrel. This careless guy didn't seem like someone who would take the initiative to get into literature.
"It's not obscure traditional literature, but written by some people... In short, I don't know what to say. Anyway, they are some very interesting stories, but they are not well recognized by the public."
"Those...chivalry novels?"
The robin thought carefully and came up with this word.
This is something that has appeared in recent years. It is about the love and hatred between nobles, or the adventure story of exploring the new world. There is no serious core idea, and there are no heart-touching words. It is just told casually.
It was something that no one cared about, but it became popular among young people. These stories were different from the serious literature they read, which made them happy, while the older generation thought it was unpopular. be opposed.
The robin didn't expect the kestrel to look at these things, but when he thought about it, it was certainly something he could do.
"That's how it is in those stories. There are bad guys in the city, and they come to do evil at night, so the protagonist practices swordsmanship hard, and when night falls, he puts on a mask and goes out to do justice."
The kestrel looked at the robin on the side and continued, "Don't you think this is similar to us? Although we are not fighting bad guys, but things that are more difficult than bad guys."
"Those little girls loved this story. They thought it was so cool that the protagonist, who was doing heroic things at night but didn't reveal his identity, was really cool."
Kestrel said with a smile on his face, it seemed that he was the one popular with those little girls.
"You liked the story very much?"
"Of course."
Kestrel is full of youthful energy, but Robin doesn't understand him at all. Although they are both colleagues, their age span is also very large. Kestrel seems to be about the same age as Lorenzo, while Robin is already three years old. He was in his early teens, and if it weren't for the damn job of cleaning up the agency, he would have considered getting married and having children.
The robin paused for a moment, and then just like those old-fashioned old guys, he didn't know what was going on with the young people today.
"Joy looks angry," said Robin. "I've never seen him so angry."
"It should be because of those damn hallucinations... Joey saw that child again." Kestrel said.
The robin was silent for a moment, and he knew the incident well.
"Is that so? Has he still not come out of that shadow?"
"Otherwise? Where do you think his mysophobia comes from? He has killed men and women, old and young, and even said things that were not human. But that time he killed a child... many."
Kestrel understands Joey, the psychological burden is not just talk.
"That's not his fault, it was on the battlefield, and it was mainly done by Gao Wen." Robin tried to excuse Joey.
"So, killing is difficult. We have to suppress our various emotions until we get used to killing our own kind." Kestrel suddenly felt that the heavy rain made people more irritated.
very few people know
In the beginning, Joey was not stationed in Old Dunling, but followed Gawain's knights to encircle and suppress the demons on the edge of the country.
It is the edge of law and sword, often accompanied by blood and death.
But in one operation, Joey killed innocent people, a group of children.
"I still remember Gawain's ugly face... In fact, what he did was very correct, according to the regulations for purging institutions, but it still made people feel uncomfortable." Kestrel said, he even remembered Joey at that time Repeat the words for yourself.
Then Gawain said.
"We just killed their parents, and their family believes in demons. We don't know what kind of power or weapons they have. And they are full of hatred for us now. Maybe this kid will become a monster in the next second. Demon, and then kill my men, I will be responsible for their lives.”
So Gawain killed them all, or rather all of them.
It was a battlefield, a cruel and cold-blooded battlefield, and there was nothing wrong in what Gawain did. If there must be any mistake, it would be that he followed the rules too much. Those who followed the rules to the point of being cold-blooded were as if they were not human beings.
In order to fight against demons, humans always have to abandon some bad qualities, such as pity, sympathy, weakness...
In fact... everyone is quite cold-blooded, but they are unwilling to admit it. It seems that as long as they don't admit it, they will still be normal human beings.
And that's when Joey suffered.
This is a kind of mental torture that everyone in the purge organization has. They killed people and committed crimes. Although they said it was for a brighter tomorrow, they still took the lives of those innocent people. Even the nervous kestrel sometimes cannot help but imitate and chant a few prayers from the robin.
But that was the only time that Joey felt that his sin was so serious that it could not be ignored.
Since then, Joey applied to be transferred back to the old Dunling. During the hardship, he began to take hallucinogens to comfort himself. His mental state continued to decline, and sometimes he was stained with blood, and he remembered everything that was nightmarish.
"So it's really important to see a psychiatrist regularly," Kestrel said.
"I thought you would say something serious and meaningful." The robin couldn't think of what sentence the kestrel would come up with.
"What a deep meaning, what seriousness? Don't you feel too tired to live like that?" Kestrel said nonsense, "Everyone's work is already so deadly, so don't torture yourself anymore."
"Is this considered great wisdom and foolishness?"
"It's just heartless... After all, people like me usually live longer, right?"
Kestrel was not serious at all, just talking casually.
It's not that he has no ambition, it's just that when he was in the Lower City, the years of life and death made him easily satisfied.
"Okay, stop chatting everyone, it's time to work."
A voice interrupted the conversation between the two, and then another person walked out of the rain curtain.
Night Owl rarely moved with them.
Currently, there is only one third-generation armor that can be officially put into use, but it was destroyed by the Black Angel controlled by Lorenzo during the test. Before the new armor was built, the test driver Night Owl had no job. So he was temporarily transferred back to make up for the lack of manpower.
"The personnel are in place, it's time to take action." Ye Xiao said.
"But is this really good?" Robin asked, "That doctor is considered one of us, and he just came to our door without any evidence?"
"Joy himself is the evidence...and the reason why Old Dunling can maintain such peace is not because of our excessive vigilance," Kestrel said. "As long as there is the slightest symptom, we will never let it go, even Arthur My daughter is still in Black Mountain Hospital..."
Kestrel knows how difficult that hellish place in Black Mountain Hospital is, but now almost two weeks have passed, and the little girl has no intention of being discharged.
"However, it is also because of this that we are also very wary of our own people."
Ye Xiao knew their concerns, but it had nothing to do with him. They would play different roles tonight.
In terms of position, high-ranking knights also follow different knight commanders. Joey and Nite Owl are Lancelot's subordinates. However, Lancelot mysteriously disappeared a few months ago. According to rumors, he is suspected of being related to Like Galahad, he was eroded by a generation of armor and is undergoing emergency treatment.
However, there are still people who have seen Galahad in the Eternal Pump, but Lancelot... this guy seems to be a ghost that does not exist. Although he is his subordinate, Joey and Night Owl also Never met that guy.
Kestrel stretched his hand into the rain curtain and rubbed his eyes hard with his hands stained by the cold rain to cheer himself up.
He didn't think about that anymore. The more he knew, the faster he would die. Kestrel still knew this.
"One of our own? Oh, it's really unimaginable..." The robin sighed.
While fighting monsters, we must be wary not only of monsters, but also of teammates who have been demonized. The purge agency believed Joey's suspicions and suspected that there was something wrong with the doctor. Similarly, they also suspected that there was something wrong with Joey. He had been injected before. Hallucinogens, lying in the Montenegro Hospital for a period of time, in the eyes of the purification agency, this thing has already been regarded as a dark history.
If it cannot be proven that there is something wrong with the doctor, then what awaits Joey will be psychological evaluation and mental testing. They have the condition to suspect that Joey carries the residue of erosion, which caused the mental abnormality.This is not good news.
"Have you seen that doctor's information?" Kestrel asked.
Robin nodded. On the way here, he had already seen it once while sitting in the carriage.
Although they both serve the purification agency, just like the Perpetual Pump, Black Mountain Hospital and these frontline knights are completely separate parts, and there is little communication between the two.
"James Moriarty, age 27, unmarried, is a native of Old Dunling. After graduating from the Royal Medical College, he was admitted to the Black Mountain Hospital. After a year of inspection, he became a full member."
My resume is very clean, extremely clean.
From his birth to the present, all his deeds have been recorded in detail. With just these few pieces of paper, you can even recreate his not-so-long life.
But now Joey is suspicious of such a clean doctor.
Kestrel still remembers the situation at that time. Joey fell into a terrible abnormality, as if he was suffering from a terrible erosion. After his mind stabilized, with the help of a sensitive large Geiger counter, the unconscious Joey made this judge.
In fact, Joey was not sure of his judgment, but he believed in his intuition that James Moriarty might be related to the demon.
That weird mutual aid club, the recurring hallucination after meeting Moriarty...
Like a transparent spider web, you can touch everything weird and feel the invisible pressure, but you just can't see what it looks like.
　After a long period of painful insomnia, I finally realized that instead of tossing and turning, it would be better to do something more productive, have breakfast and go to bed. Good night everyone.
　
(End of this chapter)